The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a system and method for determining aircraft payloads to enhance profitability.
Commercial aircraft typically include a storage compartment (e.g., storage hold) configured to facilitate transportation of passenger baggage. The volume of certain storage compartments is larger than the expected volume of passenger baggage for a flight along a desired route. Accordingly, the excess volume of such storage compartments may be utilized to transport cargo along the desired route. Selling the excess volume to companies and/or individuals for cargo transportation enhances the profitability of the flight by increasing the utilization of available resources (e.g., the excess storage volume and/or the excess lifting capacity of the aircraft). However, transporting cargo increases the weight of the aircraft, thereby increasing fuel usage during the flight. In addition, the weight of the cargo and/or the volume of the cargo within the storage compartment may reduce the available passenger capacity of the aircraft (e.g., by decreasing the storage volume for passenger baggage and/or by reducing the available lifting capacity of the aircraft). Accordingly, pricing cargo too cheaply may reduce the profitability of a flight due to excessive fuel usage and/or reduced passenger capacity. Conversely, pricing cargo too expensively may reduce the profitability of the flight due to inefficient use of available resources. For example, a high cargo price may reduce demand for the excess volume within the storage compartment, thereby decreasing the cargo carried by the flight. As a result, the overall profitability of the flight may be reduced.